Prep roundup for Thursday, May 11

May 11—Northwestern's girls tennis team beat Hoosier Conference rival Western in straight sets at every point Wednesday to register a 5-0 victory.

In singles, McKenna Layden won the No. 1 point 6-0, 6-0, Avery Rooze won the No. 2 point 6-2, 6-0 and Megan Shank won the No. 3 match 6-4, 6-3. In doubles, Emily Goltz and Anna Grube won the No. 1 match 6-1, 6-1 and Berkley Wray and Lauren Lesko won the No. 2 match 6-2, 6-1.

"The girls all played well against a very competitive Western team," NW coach Kathie Layden said. "McKenna continues to play extremely well at 1 singles and was able to get us a fairly quick point at 1 singles. Both doubles teams also continue to play well together and seem to look stronger every match."

The Tigers are now 10-0. They've posted unbeaten regular seasons in five of the last six seasons (2016 through 2019 and 2021 with no season played in 2020). They were 93-7 over that span.

KOKOMO 4, LAPEL 1

The Wildkats improved to 13-5 with the road win.

Kokomo took the doubles points in straight sets. Mia Federspill and Ava Cothern won 6-3, 7-5 at No. 1 and Allie Cothern and Avi Pollard won 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2.

The Kats' other points came in three-setters. Raigan Heflin won 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 at No. 1 singles and Claire Callane finished strong for a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles.

"Lapel is a tough team and took us three sets at all the singles positions," Kokomo coach Sarah Hemmerich said.

EASTERN 4, LOGAN 1

The Comets prevailed in a trio of three-set decisions in beating the Berries.

Emily Princell won 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 at No. 2 singles, Madi Guinn and Claire Wavra rallied for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles and Julia Salkie and Emma Budde fought back for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles.

Also for Eastern (7-4), Morgan Kaiser was a 6-2, 6-2 winner at No. 3 singles.

"This was a tough win," Eastern coach Pat Rice said. "We really started slow and had to rally. Really proud of our fight winning three third sets. Thought our 1 doubles team played their best match of the season."

MAC 4, ROCHESTER 1

The Braves beat the Zebras in a Three Rivers Conference match at Maconaquah.

In singles play, Molly Tenny was a 6-0, 6-2 winner at No. 1 and Kiera Rosenow was a 6-4, 6-1 winner at No. 2.

The Braves swept the doubles points. Josie Callane and Kaydence Jones took a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 1 and Kailee Meadows and Finley Dobbs won 6-4, 6-1 at No. 2.

"We played well across the board and were able to come back and secure the win after a tough match at the beginning of the week," Mac coach Makenna Moore said.

MANCHESTER 3, PERU 2

The Bengal Tigers won the top two singles points in a TRC match. Mackey Hyde won the No. 1 match 6-0, 6-0 and Lauren Boyer won the No. 2 match 0-6, 6-4, 7-5.

BOYS GOLF

NW 177, KOKOMO 186

Kokomo's Karson Parrott fired a 34 to win medalist, but Northwestern came away with the team win at Kokomo C.C.

Hudson Whaley led the Tigers with a 37, Sammy Shotwell shot 40, Logan Duncan shot 49 and Brayden Applegate shot 51.

After Parrott, Camden Horner was next for the Kats with a 49, Canaan Horner shot 51 and William Nelson shot 52.

DELPHI 185, EASTERN 215

Kailin Cook and Bryce Barker each shot 50 to lead Eastern in a home match. Sam Torivo shot 56 and Trenton Hendrix 59.

GIRLS TRACK

WESTERN WINS COUNTY

Western scored 101.5 points to win the Howard County meet at Northwestern. The host Tigers were second at 90.5, Eastern third with 46 and Taylor fourth with 3.

Western's Chase Hayes was the meet's high point award winner, racking up 22 points. She won the 100- and 400-meter dashes and the long jump and was second in the 200.

Lacy Rathbun and Ellyse Walden were double winners for the Panthers. Walden won shot and discus. Rathbun won the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. And the 4x800 team of Kendall DePoy, Hattie Harlow, Maddy Shoaff and Lauren Bradley took first.

"Great team effort, but an outstanding effort from Chase Hayes," Western coach Gary Jewell said. "She really stepped up, kind of picked up where she left off last year at the county meet.

"I'm excited to see what [Rathbun]'s going to do when she gets some competition. In both hurdle races, she's really close to breaking a school record. Ellyse is only a freshman too, and she PR'd big time [in discus].

Northwestern won seven events. Mayli Yoder, Lexi Hale, Emma Baker and Anna Perry won the 4x100 (51.72). Addy Robinson, Baker, Sally Freeman and Aaliya Guersoy won the 4x400 (4:32.7). Katrin Saulamaa won the 200 (:26.58). Hannah Moore won the 800 (2:28.25) and 1,600 (5:29.9). Courtney Adams won the 3,200 (11:43.9) And Lexi Hale won high jmp (5 feet, 4 inches).

"We had a great fight again," NW coach Josh Perry said. "The girls go after every event, even if they aren't seeded to score. We are ready for sectionals next week. I'm excited to see where the chips fall on Tuesday."

BOYS TRACK

WESTERN WINS COUNTY

The Panthers topped the field at the Howard County meet at Northwestern. Eastern was second, Northwestern third and Taylor fourth.

Western's 4x100 team of Myreon DeVost, Simon Aaron, Caleb Cook and Matthew McKitrick set a meet record in winning that relay.

McKitrick also won the 100 dash. Aden Yeary won the 1,600. And Camden Oyler won the pole vault with an effort of 13 feet.

"We got contributions all the way around," Jewell said. "McKitrick wins the 100, he beats [Eastern's Jayden] Eagle I'll say on the lean.

"And the 4x100 blew everybody out of the water. It's amazing to see what happens on the relay when the exchanges are there. It almost looks like a magic trick when they hand off. These guys have adopted a professional attitude with that relay team and it's fun to watch. It'll be exciting next week [at Thursday's Kokomo Sectional] because we may now have the fastest time in the area and these guys have high expectations on what they want to achieve."

Oyler's effort in pole vault was another highlight, as were a lot of second-and third-place finishes.

"It was good to see Camden progress," Jewell said. "A year ago he was kind of on the outside. He was like a 9-6 pole vaulter last year, now he's a 13. Like the sprinters, he's become a consummate professional at doing this."

For Northwestern, Colin Feazel won the 800 (1:59.82), Mychal McGriff won the 110 hurdles (:18.33), the team of Matthew Mitchell, Declan Aaron, Jacob Bumgardner and Feazel won the 4x800 (8:53.36), and the team of Clayton Griswold, Matthan McGriff, Eric Biner and Feazel won the 4x400 (3:39.40).

"Amazing night of efforts from the boys," NW coach Alexander Pier said. "After a hard-fought effort at conference on Friday, we had a quick turnaround to be ready for [Wednesday]. The boys came out swinging. Huge PRs out of several athletes. Top to bottom the team was great.

"Special shoutout to Colin Feazel for breaking the 2-minute barrier in the 800 meters. He has been working hard at that all season and was finally able to do it. I am excited to continue on to sectionals next week."

BASEBALL

KOKOMO 13, MARION 8

John Curl was 2 for 3 with two RBI and two runs, and Dalton Dixon was 2 for 2 with a run and an RBI to lead Kokomo to a road victory over a North Central Conference rival.

The Wildkats piled up a 10-0 lead through the road half of the fourth inning and cruised to the finish. It was Kokomo's first NCC win, improving to 1-8 in the league and 7-14 overall.

J.J. Gillespie tripled for Kokomo, Eli Catron and Patrick Hardimon doubled.

Kokomo starter Andrew Guerre thew three innings with one hit, no walks and four strikeouts to highlight five Kat pitchers in the game. Hardimon closed the door by throwing the final 2/3 of an inning with no hits or walks and two strikeouts.

LAF. JEFF 12, WESTERN 9

Class 3A No. 3-ranked Western fell to Lafayette Jeff at Loeb Stadium.

Mitchell Dean led the Panthers (17-3) with a double, two singles and three RBI. Evan Stout had three singles and two RBI.

Western visits Class A No. 2 Lafayette Central Catholic on Friday for the Hoosier Conference title game.

ROCHESTER 8, MAC 0

Maconaquah starting pitcher Bennett Isenburg threw four innings and allowed only two earned runs in the TRC game.

The Braves had two-hit nights from Isenburg, Fuddy Kile and Kaleb Shelton.

SOFTBALL

OLE MISS 8, KOKOMO 5

Visiting Mississinewa jumped to a 7-0 lead after two innings and withstood Kokomo's five-run rally in the third inning.

Kokomo relief pitcher Taylor Reed gave the Kats a chance for a comeback. She pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs.

Liliana Lamberson belted a three-run home run for the Kats, Gwen Hand went 2 for 4 with a double and Reed went 2 for 4.

"We celebrated our seniors, Kami Shoemaker, Kenzie Huckeby and Carly Patterson in pregame. We appreciate everything they have done for the program and the young ladies they have become. We are proud," Kokomo coach Mike Susong said.

TC 5, TAYLOR 2

Tri-Central denied Taylor's bid for a second straight win.

"Injuries are keeping us from being competitive, but even when we have players playing in positions they don't normally play, we just have to continue to get better," Taylor coach Robert McGuire said. "We didn't want to lose this one but let's just shake it off and get ready for the next one."